Text description provided by the architects. Beijing-based architecture studio, TEMP has designed an optical store in Wudaokou, Beijing. Amoon Optical is known as one of the most professional optical glasses store in the city that carry many of world renowned brands as Lindberg, Mykita, Markus T, to name a few. The store design plays with elements of what makes glasses intriguing: light, transparency, reflection, and perforations.
Glasses are essentially highly detailed hinged frames with transparent lenses. They filter light, offer views, and can be folded away easily. The store translates these ideas to form framed spaces that divide, connect, and also slide.
Different zones of the store are divided by walls and cabinets. Yet none of the rooms are completely closed off as gaps and notches reconnect the spaces. Glasses are displayed on brass shelves with wood backings. Two lines of brass shelves thread the entire space together.
Mirrors are used to reflect spaces and for customers to try on the glasses. Mirrors go through the brass shelves or are hung above the glass displays at slanted angles. Walls and ceilings are finished with grey toned stucco and floors with terrazzo.
Against the glass façade, thin brass shelves are supported by structural glass to allow for maximum sunlight/views and also providing for more display areas at the same time. Closet, sink, and desks are designed as one continuous piece and become part of the interior wall.
In the center of the store, two perforated floor-to-ceiling glass panels slide on rails left and right. The two panels sandwich a stainless steel planter that also can be easily moved on wheels. Together they allow for different configurations of the space.
Amoon Optical has expressed dedication towards professional glasses prescription over the years. The design of the store follows up on such efforts through spatial explorations and material tectonics that question the basic properties of eyeglasses.
